It is well known to attach light devices to spokes of bicycle wheels. U.S. Pat. No. 6,598,894 to Fujii et al., the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein in its entirety by reference, discloses a small light device with a single light that mounts to a single spoke. U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,101 to McEvoy and U.S. Pat. No. 6,072,386 to Yu, the disclosures of which are expressly incorporated herein in their entireties by reference, each disclose a light device which is wider than it is tall. These light devices are attached to one spoke at their center and have “wings” which extend past other spokes to prevent the light device from rotating out of alignment with the wheel. U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,229 to Modurkay, U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,972 to Thomas et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,016,101 to Brown, the disclosures of which are expressly incorporated herein in their entireties by reference, also each disclose a light device which is wider than it is tall. These light devices however, have their two wide ends attached to two different spokes.
Persistence of vision (POV) light devices for bicycle wheels create light patterns as the wheels rotate. U.S. Pat. No. 5,903,224 to Reynolds and U.S. Pat. No. 6,072,386 to Yu, the disclosures of which are expressly incorporated herein in their entireties by reference, each disclose POV light devices. These POV light devices extend only a limited radial distance of the wheel and thus limit the size and complexity of the images capable of being displayed. It is possible to create larger more complex patterns and images as the wheels spin with light devices having many lights arranged in a radial direction along one of the spokes. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,492,963 to Hoch, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. Most of the currently available POV light devices have lights spanning over 70 mm along the spokes, and share many similarities with the Hoch design. Most of the currently available POV light devices share a common mounting system where the light device is attached near its middle to a first spoke and at its outer end (near the rim of the wheel) to a second spoke. See, for example, the mounting system sold by the Hokey Spokes Company of Gary, Ind.
While these POV light devices may adequately create desirable light patterns, their mounting systems can only be mounted to a limited number of wheel types, permit the light devices to wobble and rattle, and can be insecure at high speeds. A first inherent limitation of the common mounting system is that the mounting area at the outer end of the light device is not long enough to reach the second spoke on some wheels. In the past few years it has become a common fashion to have bicycle wheels with fewer and fewer spokes. This means the spokes are further apart. At the rim of the wheel is the greatest distance between spokes. Many of the current POV light devices use an adjustable mounting area at the outer end which fits typical older bicycle wheels, but is too short to reach the second spoke on modern low-spoke-count wheels. If these POV light devices increased the length of the adjustable mounting area to reach the second spokes, the increased length would introduce considerable mechanical flex in the long mount, and furthermore would be so long as to cause obstructions when used on the older style of wheels with more spokes. A second inherent limitation in the common mounting system is that the two attachment points position the light device in the plane of the spokes. It is also a recent fashion to have bicycle wheels with a great many spokes so that the spokes are extremely close together. On such a wheel, there may only be ½ inch between adjacent spokes at the rim, not nearly enough space to fit the current POV light devices in the plane of the spokes. Additionally, the common mounting design is prone to vibration and rattling. Bicycle wheels are subject to extreme vibration in normal use. Current POV light devices do not include any shock absorbing method and exhibit the following vibration related problems: (1) loosening of mounting hardware causing the device to become insecure; (2) vibration induced rattling which is a nuisance noise and over longer term causes wear-induced failure of the product in any number of ways; and (3) metal mounting hardware used in some POV light devices can damage spokes when vibrating against the spokes for extended periods of time. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved POV light devices for mounting on bicycle wheels.